TRANSPORTATION; Mutiny on the Hudson

By TERRY GOLWAY

Published: December 19, 2004

MORNING winds were swirling on a recent gray morning, so the ride across the Hudson River was a little choppier than usual. But that did not matter to George Covo, who had a window seat aboard a New York Waterway ferryboat on the way from this city's waterfront to the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan.

Choppy or not, Mr. Covo prefers a short trip across the river to the more congested, and occasionally more tempestuous, journey below.

''The ferry ride is more convenient, less crowded and I find it just reduces stress,'' Mr. Covo, who lives in Oradell, said as the boat got under way.

He pays a higher price for the stress reduction -- the one-way fare from Hoboken to the World Financial Center is $3.50, as against the $1.50 it would cost to take the PATH train to downtown. But for him and thousands of other commuters, the extra $2 a trip is worth it. The ferry drops him closer to work than the PATH does. And, after all, the views of Manhattan are the stuff of postcards.

But this pleasant and popular alternative to the PATH is about to go under.

Or so says Arthur Imperatore Jr., president of New York Waterway, which operates 20 ferry routes that carry 32,000 commuters between New York and New Jersey every weekday. Mr. Imperatore recently appeared before the New York City Council to plead for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to take over the service, saying that his company may cease service at any moment. The company is in default on $20 million in debt.

Local officials in Hudson County are distraught over the company's plight, because ferry service is considered crucial for the continued revitalization of Hoboken, Jersey City and Weehawken -- linchpins of what is sometimes called the Gold Coast. Earlier this month, county freeholders put together a $38 million package to buy the beleaguered company, but the deal fell through when State Attorney General Peter J. Harvey ruled that the freeholders' plan required approval from the local governments of the three cities where the ferries operate.

Private operators have expressed an interest in taking over some of New York Waterway's most popular routes, but they say they will require government help and, at least for now, none is forthcoming.

As the company warned of a shutdown on New Year's Eve, if not sooner, Mr. Covo considered his alternatives. They did not inspire sunny thoughts on this gray morning as the ferryboat bashed against little whitecaps.

''I'd have to take the PATH, which is more inconvenient,'' said Mr. Covo, who works for Citigroup in the World Financial Center.

The ferryboat puts him steps from his office, while the PATH line stops at the former World Trade Center site, requiring a longer walk to work. ''Besides,'' he added, ''I'm just not fond of subway trains.''

Neither is Jeffrey Martel, a lawyer for American Express from Maplewood who says he has been on a PATH train ''about three times in my life.''

''And on one of those three trips, my briefcase was stolen,'' Mr. Martel said. ''That's never happened on a ferry.''

Mr. Martel, who like Mr. Covo works in the World Financial Center, said the ''thought of having to crawl into those PATH trains to get to work is not pleasing.''

In fact, he added: ''It would stink. Let me reiterate that. It would stink.''

Mr. Martel is among the thousands of workers in downtown Manhattan whose memories of the 9/11 attacks are inextricably linked to the ferry service. Watching the second hijacked plane hit the South Tower, he realized that the city was under assault and immediately headed for the waterfront. By then, the train service was shut down, the bridges were locked down and the ferry was the only way to get across the Hudson.

''I got on a ferry that was supposed to go directly to Weehawken, but it made every stop along the way,'' he said. New York Waterway won plaudits for its quick response to the disaster, and its role in helping to evacuate downtown after the attacks.

With that memory in mind, another ferry commuter, Shari Brandt, says the government should step up to make sure that the service remains in place.

''In light of 9/11 and the blackout, I think it's important to have a backup route for people to get out of Manhattan in an emergency,'' said Ms. Brandt, a Millburn resident.

She argued that if the service required further government subsidies, so be it. ''Trains get subsidies,'' she said. ''So should ferries.''

New York Waterway did, in fact, receive millions of federal and local dollars in the aftermath of 9/11, when the company expanded service -- perhaps too quickly, Mr. Imperatore says -- to make up for the loss of PATH service from New Jersey to Manhattan. But New York Waterway's use of the subsidies has prompted a federal and state investigation of the company's finances.

Amid all this gloom and doom, Broderick Norman, a Hoboken resident, seemed downright sanguine. As he scanned his morning newspapers during the crossing, Mr. Norman, who works in Manhattan for Merrill Lynch, said he was not too concerned about the ferry's future.

''I feel the high-volume lines will remain in service,'' he said, referring to popular routes like the crossing from Hoboken to the World Financial Center and the service from Hoboken to Pier 11 near Wall Street. (One lightly traveled route, Newport in Jersey City to Pier 11, shut down earlier this month.)

Mr. Norman, who usually boards the ferry to the World Financial Center about 6 a.m., has good reason to hope the boats keep running.

''The PATH trains are not an option,'' he said. ''At that hour, the PATH service is not as quick, and I would have to walk from the old World Trade Center to my office at 6:30 in the morning.''

What's more, he finds it hard to believe that the service will be allowed to die.

''If you take a place like Hoboken, it's a transportation hub,'' he said. ''And there's new construction going on, like the new Goldman Sachs building. People want ferry service.''

Photos: New York Waterway executives say the struggling ferry company could end its popular service at any moment.; Many commuters prefer the ferry, even though it costs more than the PATH train. (Photographs by Norman Y. Lono for The New York Times)